Barbara Harrison was born in 1936. Today, in addition to being a distinguished and masterful author, she teaches English at the Charles E. Brown Middle School in Newton, Massachusetts. She is codirector of Children's Literature New England and has edited a collection of speeches originally presented at programs and lectures sponsored by the organization. She has also compiled and edited a further collection of essays and conversations regarding children's literature taken from programs presented at Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature. Along with Daniel Terris, Barbara Harrison is coauthor of two biographies of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, both based on the authors' well-researched and award-winning HBO documentaries. The biographies focus precisely on those elements of the Kennedy brothers' lives that interest children.

Barbara Harrison lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Theo is her first novel.